As many as a fifth of Britain's 34 million motorists would consider or are planning to buy an electric car within the next five years, according to a GfK NOP survey for the RAC Foundation.

The poll results should be welcome news for the Department for Transport (DfT), which in April announced an incentive scheme that would see grants of up to £5,000 being offered to purchasers of electric powered cars from 2011.

But, the RAC Foundation claim that by the Government's own reckoning electric vehicles won't be available on the mass market until at least 2017, leaving millions of potential buyers frustrated.

“What the Government should be doing is improving the road network and encouraging manufacturers to refine existing technology,” explained RAC Foundation Professor Stephen Glaister.

“That means increasing road capacity to cut congestion and CO2 emissions; focussing on producing leaner petrol and diesel engines; and making smaller and lighter cars.”